Jessica Grewal
Senior Reporter APN Newsdesk NSW Bureau
Working from Sydney, Jessica specialises in crime/court reporting, filing for APN’s regional mastheads in Northern NSW as well as providing national content for the group.
She was previously Chief Reporter at the Fraser Coast Chronicle in Hervey Bay, Queensland where she grew up and trained.
Early in her career, she was named Queensland Young Journalist of the Year at the Clarion Awards.
More recently, she was finalist at the 2013 Kennedy Awards for Excellence in NSW Journalism in both the...

TWO people who allowed their horse to starve and suffer extreme pain in her miserable final months are fighting a court order to pay $20,000 in fines for animal cruelty.

This is despite their legal team refusing to further represent them on the grounds they have not been paid.

Leigh Francis Allan and Andrew Taylor this week launched an appeal against the convictions and subsequent fines handed down in Maryborough Magistrates Court last year after they were prosecuted by the RSPCA for the neglect of their palomino mare Candy.

RSPCA inspector Penny Flaherty had no choice but to shoot the horse when she was discovered on a Gayndah farm in October, 2014, unable to drag her skeletal body off the ground. She had suffered from painful hoof disease and pressure sores for several months.

Ms Flaherty previously told a hearing she and a vet warned the couple to have Candy put down but they didn't listen.

Appearing on the couple's behalf via phone link in Brisbane District Court on Monday, Mr Taylor, whose lawyers withdrew from the case due to non-payment, asked for more time to build his argument.

He said there were several people he needed to contact and "gain evidence" from.